Live Active Kids' Races

28 Feb 2018

It’s important for kids to get into good habits from a young age and one of the most important habits that any child can learn is to keep themselves active and do some form of physical exercise. Not only will this help them to learn new skills and meet other people, but it will also protect them from developing chronic and life limiting diseases.

Statistics around childhood obesity in Scotland don’t make for very good reading. In fact, the latest figures show that around 1/3 of Scottish kids are at high risk of being overweight or obese when they reach adulthood. This means they are more likely to develop conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, osteoarthritis, certain types of cancer and depression.

So, what can we do to combat this? Well getting children more active and involved in sport is a great way to do it and there are plenty of opportunities to do so in Perthshire. Live Active Leisure has this year shaped the extremely popular annual Live Active Race Series around family and children involvement, and maybe it’s something that your kids would enjoy. The latest figures show that around 1/3 of Scottish kids are at high risk of being overweight or obese when they reach adulthood.

Kicking off on with two multi-sport events – the Aberfeldy Junior and Youth Aquathlon and the Strathearn Junior and Youth Aquathlon – Live Active is hoping to encourage children to take part in something that is challenging but fun, and combines two simple activities – running and swimming.

There will be taster sessions held after the Easter school holidays for children to sample the course well in advance of the race day, so that there will be no surprises and so that they can build confidence in themselves. Hopefully, it could lead to more kids joining some of the already well-established athletics and swimming clubs in the region which will provide the youngsters with an opportunity to continue competing in events or even just to keep active more regularly.

As well as the two Aquathlons, kids will also get the chance to get involved in this year’s Pitlochry Running Festival. New for 2018, there will now be a fun kids’ 1K race which will run alongside the traditional 10K and 5K races. That means that the whole family can now get involved in this fantastic day on Sunday 16th September!

Speaking about this year’s Live Active Race Series, Tracey Greer – who is the trusts Facility Operations Manager – spoke about her hopes of getting as many youngsters involved in the events as possible.

“We’re delighted to announce our Live Active Race Series for 2018 and this year we’ve really focused on making the events family orientated. We’re delighted to announce our Live Active Race Series for 2018 and this year we’ve really focused on making the events family orientated.

“We’re hoping to encourage more and more kids to take part in the Junior Aquathlon events and we’ll be giving them the opportunity to try out the course prior to the race so that anyone who is a little anxious about taking part will be comfortable with what’s ahead of them on the day.

“Our extremely popular Pitlochry Running Festival also returns this year and we’ve now added a fun 1K race for kids, which will mean that if mums and dads are taking part in the 5K or 10K races then the kids can join in the fun too!”

With over 100 local volunteers joining members of the organising committee and the participants to make the events a success, there really is a true community spirit involved when it comes to making the Live Active Race Series happen in Perthshire.

To enter any of the events mentioned above, click on the links at the bottom of this article corresponding do the event you’re interested in.

Alternatively if you’d be interested in volunteering at any of the events, please contact the Live Active Race Series organisers at leisure@liveactive.co.uk